Dangers of the Internet Pornography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dangers of the Internet Pornography - Essay Example However, watching internet pornography is dangerous to society because it contributes to ethical and moral degradation. The increasing accessibility to internet pornography is currently an important issue of concern to policy makers and the society. This has generated intense debate on controlling the accessibility of the content especially to young children. The legality of allowing adults access to pornographic content remains a controversial issue. However, numerous research studies on pornography demonstrates that watching the content is harmful to all people irrespective of their age. According to Bailey (32), watching pornographic content especially through the internet contributes to development of sex addiction or obsession that motivates people to commit crimes in the society. In addition, the habit wastes productive time that could be used to build careers and enhance family relationships (Bailey, 37) Watching pornographic content motivates people to commit sexual crimes Di amond (310). Various studies carried on sexual offenders demonstrate a positive relation between watching internet pornography and committing sexual crimes such as rape and sex with minors. In a study conducted by Allen, et al(140) among convicted rapists to establish the relationship between watching pornography and committing rape, 86% of the convicted rapists admitted to have been regular audience of internet pornographic content and over 60 percent of them admitted to have imitated the scenes on the pornographic content on their victims while committing the offense. A separate study by Bailey (67) established that rapists are fifteen times more likely to have been exposed to explicit pornographic content in their childhood. Similarly watching internet pornography contributes or aggravate to the development of antisocial and deviant behavior, sexual crimes and personality disorders (Bailey, 76) . Currently child pornography is a serious problem in the globe and several research s tudies have been undertaken to investigate its effect on children and the society. According to McCarthy (183), â€Å"possession of child pornographic content by an individual is a strong indicator of pedophilia. Allen, et al(147) noted that child pornography is widely applied by pedophiles to â€Å"arouse themselves sexually, to undermine the resistance, ruin the conscience and minimize inhibitions of potential children victims toward engaging in sexual intercourse with an adult. In addition, child pornographic content is used by children sexual molesters to train the minors on how to act while having sex with an adult†. Internet pornography increases the vulnerability of people to engage in deviant sexual behaviors. These behaviors include voyeurism, pedophilia, group sexual encounters and exhibitionisms among others (McCarthy, 186). Bailey (86) conducted a study on child pornographic offenders and established that 23 percent of them were suffering from pedophilia, a menta l disorder. A total of 11 percent of the offenders in the study were suffering from voyeurism and exhibitionism while 49 percent had paraphilia (Bailey, 89-96). Therefore, watching pornographic content contributes to the development of deviant sexual behaviors and is an indicator of the prevalence of the disorders in the society. The effect of watching child pornography and sexual abuse on minors has drawn considerable research findings. The conviction that watching child